The Warrior
by OfMiceAndSam
Summary: Madeline: meaning tower, which to her meant watching over. Morgan: meaning lives by the ocean. Louise: meaning warrior, a fighter. Winchester: dangerous, deadly, and well-trained, with one other meaning. Run. A long Spn one-shot.


Ever since the day she was born, Madeline Morgan-Louise Winchester has been the eldest child and with that status she gained the title of protector and care-taker of any kids that came after her, her siblings.

She was a good sister, though being a girl she was moody sometimes, but she loved her family. Right down to both her little brothers. She grew up to be beautiful and kind, but she had to learn it for herself, because for most of her life she hasn't had a mother to teach it to her.

* * *

_She was only six years old, still just a little girl. She was still in to being the princess and looking at the world around her so innocently. _

_She was holding her mother's hand, the other one being occupied by her younger brother, the first one anyway. Together they walked in to the nursery where the youngest child lay in his bed. _

"_All right guys, say good night to your little brother."_

_They all went in order, Maddy going first and kissing him on the forehead and saying goodnight, and her little brother Dean and then her mother followed suit. _

_Just before she went to bed she hugged her dad and helped him bring Dean back to their room, the one they shared. Her head hit the pillow, blonde locks of hair everywhere but she didn't care, Maddy just feel asleep like it was nothing. _

_Then she woke up to a sound she never thought she'd ever hear, her mother screaming, and by the looks of it Dean had heard it too. Before she knew it, Madeline was standing outside holding her baby brother with the other one gripping tight on her arm._

"_It's gonna be okay guys." But even she wasn't sure for herself because that night they watched their house go up in flames, but from that night on their lives were set.  
_

* * *

She was 8 when she started training and it was like going through hell and back for the first while. Even though it was hard, she pushed right through it, determined to make her Dad proud, and maybe even happy for a little bit.

And she accomplished just that, she was the toughest of the three kids, and the most closed off about what was going through her head. In a way, she was the perfect role model for being a hunter. Maddy was able to live and go to school and have friends but she never slipped, even for a second, in the act of pretending she had no idea what went bump in the night.

One thing though, was that never failed to protect her little brothers, and she never failed to take care of them and their Dad. So maybe her Mom wouldn't be so proud, looking down and watching her kids being trained to hunt the monsters you fear from your closet, but she Madeline knew she would be damn proud of her daughter looking out for her family.

* * *

"DAD, NO! JUST GET OFF OF HIM!"

It was late at night and Madeline was trying to stop the fight that had broken out between her dad and her little brother. She was the eldest Winchester sibling and at 17 this is what she's done for most of her life.

"MADDY HE FUCKED UP!"

"SO? LEAVE HIM ALONE DAD!"

With all the strength she had she managed to pull her dad off of her sibling and he faced her, but she wasn't scared, or at least she pretended she wasn't.

"Dad, seriously, go to your room, go get a beer, go watch a movie for all I care just leave him alone and go sort yourself out, NOW!"

There were times when John Winchester felt that having his eldest be his daughter wasn't good, this was one of those times. Madeline could tell he was pissed, but he always refused to lay a hand on her. Mainly because she was his little girl and she was the spitting image of his wife and the kid's mother, Mary.

So he walked away and locked himself in his room, grumbling and still pissed off. The minute their dad was out of sight Madeline knelt down beside her younger brother and the middle child.

"You okay Dean?"

"Yeah."

Even though it was far from the truth Maddy stuck her hand out the 15 year old and they both got up off the floor. Before they could even go anywhere though, the girl gave a knowing smile.

"I know for a fact that you're not in bed right now Sammy"

The two heard a sigh and watched as the youngest of the three came out from wherever he was hiding. Madeline only smiled, and sent Dean back to the room he shared with Sam in the small house they now lived in. She pulled her youngest brother to sit beside her on the stairs.

"What's going through your mind Sammy? "

"I just don't get it; we're basically being trained to kill."

For an eleven year old the kid was pretty smart, no one could deny that.

"Well Sammy here's the thing, we're gonna help Dad, and doing this makes him happy and he hasn't been like that for a long time. We're gonna find whatever hurt Mom, whatever took her away from us. One day we will help Dad to stop it from doing what it did to us. Just remember that we do this for dad. Now come on, we gotta go to school and it's Friday and you know what that means?"

"Uncle Bobby?"

"Yeah Sammy, Uncle Bobby."

So that's how they were raised, as warriors fighting against demons, ghosts, and anything else that made kids scared of their closets. That and Madeline tended to deal with the smartasses that tried messing with her brothers. So she got up and put Sammy in his room with Dean, but just as she closed the door her phone rang and she answered it with a sigh.

"What do you want Dylan? It's like 11 at night."

"I want to know where you've been all day, you said you'd call me."

"Well excuse me for being with my family; I'm always with my brothers you know that and if you wanted me around you could have just called."

"You and your stupid brothers, you're my girlfriend and you should be with me."

Just like that Maddy was dealing with her own problems, because no one says anything against her brothers without starting a fight, this one a screaming match.

The boys heard as Maddy had stormed down the hall in to her room, still yelling over the phone. Though usually it was Dean who felt guilt for everything, this time both boys shared it because they felt as if it were their fault for their older sister's now constant fights with her boyfriend.

She spent every waking minute making sure they were okay and she watched them as much as she could. It's not like she coddled them, no. She trained them, disciplined them, and still made sure they did their homework and they did exactly as she told them.

Madeline held the weight of the family on her shoulders, she was the peacemaker of everyone in the house, but even then, no one could have seen it coming, and Maddy still blamed herself every day for it.

* * *

Madeline stood there and watched Sam open his letter, just as anxious as he was to see what it said. When he finally read it and a smile lit up his face she knew, and she jumped him in a hug.

"I knew you would make it! I'm so proud of you Sammy."

Sam just smiled and hugged his older sister, helping her by bending down a bit. Even though Madeline was a solid 5'9" girl, Sam was still taller. However a thought crossed his mind and he nearly dropped Maddy.

"What am I gonna tell Dad?"

"Try the truth maybe? Look, Sammy, if this isn't what you want then make your own choices, you gotta start sometime right? Even if I don't agree, I gotta support you on what you want and you want to go learn and do something different, so go."

Even though Sam sometimes felt that Maddy was closer to Dean, he always knew she was there for them both. The fact that even if she didn't agree with him, but she would still help him make what he wanted possible made him a lot happier. Or at least, it did.

…

"NO, DAD, I'M GOING TO SCHOOL AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME."

"HELL YEAH I CAN."

The fight had broken out the minute Sam even mentioned Stanford, and Maddy was right in between, a 26 year old woman and was still the only actual adult in the house most days.

"DAD JUST LET HIM GO!"

"FINE! BUT IF HE WANTS TO GO HE CAN STAY GONE!"

With that Madeline was in front of her Dad, yelling at him while Sam just rushed to pack his bags. He was out the front door without so much as a goodbye and that was the first thing Madeline lost, one of her brothers, the people she'd sworn to help and protect.

* * *

Nearly 2 years later and Madeline was passed out on the back seat of the Impala, the car she'd gotten for her 18th birthday, and the car she'd been sharing with Dean since he could drive. Dean's eyes would flicker back to her every once in a while, making sure she was still breathing. She had been worrying herself sick and in turn she was all over the place, especially since she had been through a hard enough time as it was.

After a while, the familiar blonde head of hair sat up, opening her eyes to reveal the bright, dark green eyes she'd always loved about herself.

"Dean? Where the hell are we?"

"We're gonna go see Sammy."

"What? When did we decide that?"

"We didn't, I did. Look you passed out at the house, Mads, that isn't right and you're working and worrying yourself sick. It can't be just you and me on this one."

"Couldn't we have just called him?"

They both knew the answer though, if they had even tried to call their little brother he wouldn't have picked up the phone. So Maddy shut her mouth, and just sat in the backseat, internally fixing herself so she looked like she usually did: a smile on her face, and hard look in her eyes, and her determination noticeable.

She would not be weak like that ever again. Not in front of Dean, not in front of Bobby, not in front of her Dad, and certainly not in front of Sam. Sure she was genuine and honest, but hardly anyone ever knew what was going on in her head, and that's the way she liked it.

A few hours later and the two siblings were walking to a dorm at Stanford University, Madeline back to herself and walking with her familiar air of confidence. That was until Dean just pretty much opened the door and walked right in.

"DEAN! Have you ever heard of knocking?!"

"Yeah well he's our brother."

Maddy just sighed and turned around, not wanting to be there when Sam found his older brother in his kitchen. Literally two minutes later that's what she knew happened because she heard them fighting.

"Dean, get off of him for Christ's sake."

As always she pulled her two brothers apart, letting them stand there and just stare. Finally Sam turned to take in that Madeline was there too, in her jeans and combat boots and a baggy sweater. That's when he knew something was wrong.

If there was one thing Sam had learned about his older sister over the years, was that she loved herself. Not in vain way, but in a way that she was comfortable and she loved her body and who she was. Meaning she almost never, ever wore anything baggy. She loved her tank tops (even with a shirt over them) and tight jeans. Looking at her now she was drowning in the sweater she was wearing, even if she was still in skinny jeans Sam knew something was up.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Well I was looking for a beer."

Madeline smacked her brother on the head.

"Don't be a dumbass."

Just then Madeline straightened up, putting her famous smile on her face and putting a glint in her eyes.

"Sam, everything okay?"

He turned back to the blonde girl standing in the doorway.

"Uh yeah. Dean, Madeline, this is my girlfriend Jessica."

"Like your brother and sister?"

They all nodded. Maddy stepped forward, keeping up the friendly look in her eyes and the smile she had perfected. Before she could say anything though, Dean had to be a dumbass.

"I love the Smurfs." He said, walking out of Madeline's reach, "And you know I gotta tell ya, you are way out of my brother's league."

"DEAN! Now is not the time."

Madeline grabbed her younger brother by the back of his collar and yanked him back, re-composing herself and smiling once again.

"I'm sorry Jessica, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure you can see what I've been doing all my life, keeping these two in line. I really hope Sam has been nothing but good to you, but we need to borrow him."

"Let me go just, put something on."

"No, wouldn't dream of it, seriously."

"Dean shut your cakehole. Sam, we need to talk, like now."

Madeline's patience was wearing thin and her happy act was starting to crumble in to the worrying wreck she had been.

"No, anything you wanna talk about you can say in front of her."

Maddy finally let go of Dean, letting him do all the talking. This was too much too soon, and she couldn't do it, despite not wanting to look weak.

"Look, Dad hasn't been home in a few days. "

"So he's working overtime on a 'miller time' shift. He'll be around sooner or later."

"No," Maddy piped up, "Dad went on a hunting trip, and hasn't been home for a few days."

A look of realization crossed Sam's face.

"Jess excuse us."

With that they started walking through the stairway, Maddy once again having her air of confidence surround her like a blanket, and for her, it was.

"You can't just break in in the middle of the night and expect me to drop everything and leave. I mean Dad is always missing and he's always fine."

Madeline stopped all of a sudden, her two brothers walking in to her back.

"Mads…" Dean warned, knowing she was gone all ready.

"No, Dean, he's right. I mean why would we worry, you know except for the fact that we haven't even heard from him in three weeks which is way too long. Look, while you've been off in la-la land at school, we've had a routine, we've been doing what we know and now that's not even right. Now are you gonna help us or not?"

"No."

Madeline spun around and stared her younger brother in the eye, her eyes were sharp and they only said one thing, anger.

"No?"

"I swore I was done with hunting for good."

"Come on, it wasn't easy but it was never that bad." Dean said, trying to make sure his older sister didn't completely snap.

"You can never, EVER, be done with hunting. They will find you Sam, in some way shape or form it will find you. You could be bait, you could be possessed, but it will catch up with you and you will have to sit there and not be able to do _anything_ at all and watch what you love burn. So go, be lawyer, go do what you wanna do I will, unwillingly, stand by you because that is what I've always done. But just know, that it will find you Sam, everything that goes bump in the night will find you, and you won't even know the half of it."

"How did you know about the law thing?" was the only thing Sam asked.

"I saw the sticky note on your fridge, books on the table. I'm not dumb Sam, despite what you think."

Maddy stormed off, through the door before they could see her cry.

"You think Mom wanted this for us?" Sam asked, "We were raised like warriors."

"So what? You just gonna live some normal, apple pie life?" Dean asked as they stepped outside.

"No, safe."

"You heard me, Sammy, you will never be safe."

The two saw Madeline, leaning on the car and her eyes were a little bit red, threatening to sting with more tears. Dean just pulled Sam away so Maddy couldn't hear.

"Look we can't do this without you, okay? We really can't. We both know Maddy is smarter than us, stronger, and everything in between she does it better, but she's ruining herself. She's been through hell these past few months and now Dad's gone? She passed out at the house earlier working herself sick. She's always protected us Sammy, you heard her, even when she didn't agree she held off Dad so you could get what you want. Well you know what, it's our turn to help her.

"What was he hunting?"

Dean gave a small smile and walked to the Impala, popping the trunk and putting a gun for support. While they were looking for the information, Maddy just stood there against the car, lost in thought.

"But where were you two when Dad left?"

"We had our own gig Sammy." Dean answered.

"So he just stuck you with Maddy? Let you guys go alone?"

"Dude, twenty-six," he pointed to himself, "twenty-eight." He finished pointing to their older sister.

When Dean finally found the papers he started explaining and after going through everything Maddy finally looked at Sam.

"In almost two years neither have asked you for anything, didn't bother you."

That hard look in her eyes was back, and even though he towered over her, it made him feel small.

"All right, but I have to be back first thing Monday."

"What's Monday?" Dean asked.

"Interview."

"For what? A job? Skip it."

"It's a law school interview, you know Maddy really is the smartest, and the most observant. "

With that the deal was made and done.

* * *

Sam later learned that not only was his sister dealing with a missing Dad, she had gone through more heartbreak than anyone should. He remembered her finally telling him, sitting in their hotel room.

"His name was Tommy, greatest hunter I've ever known, even Dean liked him. A year and a half, that's how long we were together. We tried, so hard. We helped with cases and stuff but for the most part we stayed out of it, trying to just relax and let whatever happens happen. Then, then my worst fear came true, he went crazy, snapped, but I knew something was wrong. His eyes were dead black, Sammy, and I knew he was gone. I- I had too. I didn't want to, but I had to. Few days after we burned him, I found it in his bedside table drawer, the ring."

After that he never heard another word about it, but after what happened to Jess he knew what she had gone through, exactly how she felt. She pretended she was fine though, she was back to her tight black shirts and her camo jeans she had ripped, a pentagram necklace sat on her chest along with a silver ring, their mom's ring.

Even with her confidence and stellar acting skills, only her brothers could see how bad she was, she was worrying herself sick. She was determined to live up to her name.

Madeline: meaning tower, witch to her meant watching over. She watched over her family like it was the only thing important.

Morgan: meaning lives by the ocean. She let things roll like waves and let things happen.

Louise: meaning warrior, a fighter. That's what she was, she was a warrior in nature as a hunter.

Finally Winchester: that last name meant she was dangerous, deadly, well trained, and a reason for any creature, to run.

* * *

**A/N:** So this is a really long one-shot I wrote because I couldn't get the idea out of my head. However should people like it or I just have enough time to do something about it, I will write a kind of spin-off of this that's an actual story.


End file.
